The Tomb of the Vizier Re’-wer at Saqqara

The tomb of Re'-wer lies in the south-eastern corner of the mortuary temple of King Teti, first King of the 6th Dynasty, beside the pyramid of Teti, in the Old Kingdom necropolis at Saqqara. Excavations in 1906?7 and in the early 1920s were not published and the tomb was re-excavated and partly restored in 1975?7. It comprised a paved courtyard within a temenos containing the rectangular chapel tomb, with surviving structure built of fine quality limestone blocks in inner and outer walls. It is unusual in having two false doors in the west wall. The roof was missing. Nothing was recovered from a burial shaft that lies close to the tomb. The walls and false doors are adorned with inscriptions and reliefs. This facsimile reissue of Amer el-Fikey detailed description of the surviving structure, decoration and transcription of the inscriptions is accompanied by a full set of photographs and illustrations. No biographical text survived and the author considers the possible date of the tomb in relation to the adjacent architecture and the style of the reliefs, concluding that it most likely dates to the reign of Pepi I. He discusses indications for the personality, family situation and official position of Re'-wer, which may suggest that he was father to a wife of King Pepi and that both were disgraced for some reason. AUTHOR: At the time of the original publication Said Amer el-Fikey was inspector for North Saqqara for the Egyptian Antiquities Service. He undertook several seasons of excavation at the important cemetery and pyramid site of Saqqara at Memphis, south-west of Cairo, including re-excavation of the tomb of Re'-wer in 1975?7. He received a scholarship from the British Museum to study in the Department of Egyptology at University College London to complete his research.